It is common practice to design multi-contact electrical connector assemblies with a force multiplying means to assist the technician in mating and unmating the connector parts. Where the individual connector parts have a large number of terminals therein, the force required to mate the two connector parts with each other and to unmate the connector parts can become quite high and it is therefore common to provide a camming means or the like to assist the operator in carrying out this operation. In accordance with one aspect thereof, the present invention is directed to the achievement of a connector assembly having an improved force multiplying device for mating and unmating the connector parts with each other. The invention is particularly directed to connectors having terminals of the type which are coupled to each other by placing the terminals in aligned overlapping offset relationship and moving the terminals laterally towards each other. The force multiplying means is thus of the type which moves the connector parts laterally with respect to each other after they have been placed in closed proximity.
In accordance with another aspect thereof, the invention is directed to improved security or control over the mating and unmating of the two connector parts of a connector assembly. Multi-contact electrical connectors are used in very large numbers under many circumstances where the mating and unmating is extremely critical and must not be carried out excepting by authorized persons under carefully controlled conditions. For example, electrical generating stations have relatively complex control systems which involve perhaps many hundreds of multi-contact electrical connector assemblies and it is extremely important that the connector assemblies be mated and unmated only with the approval of the authority which is in charge of the power generating station. The two connector parts of the connector assembly in accordance with the present invention can be mated with each other or unmated only by persons having removable parts of the connector assembly thereby to insure that mating and nonmating will not be carried out by mistake or by unauthorized persons.